(Submitted by CHS Sophomore, Brooklynn Hoffman)
Anatomy and Physiology Brain Dissection
Mr. Bradley’s Anatomy and Physiology classes were able to have the experience of conducting a brain section in class. The students worked in pairs for this lab, and did the dissection on a sheep brain. The chapters that the students are currently learning have to do with the nervous system, more specifically the central nervous system, or the brain and spinal cord. The students followed lab directions which told them in what order and where they should be cutting. This allowed the students to identify different parts of the brain. The picture below is a picture that was taken during the lab and shows the brain cut directly down the middle. They were able to see the outside layer called the dura mater, and the main inside parts like the cerebrum, cerebellum, and the longitudinal fissure. Some more specific parts of the brain that were able to be recognized were the pituitary gland, different ventricles, the arbor vitae, and the students were able to differentiate between white and gray matter. The pituitary gland is in charge of hormone release, ventricles allow communication between different parts of the brain, and the arbor vitae brings information in and out of the cerebellum. These are just a couple parts of the brain that the students identified. The picture above was also taken during the lab and shows the front of the brain, or the cerebrum, and the longitudinal fissure that splits the brain into right and left hemispheres. This hands-on experience was not only an especially effective way to learn the parts of the brain, but also a learning experience that was different from reading from the textbook or taking notes.
